The Rubik's Cube (trademark) is a three-dimensional manipulable puzzle of an assortment of configurations of elements and/or exterior designs (2×2×2, 3×3×3, 4×4×4, etc). Since the original set of patents of designs and mechanism of the Rubik's cube [U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,378,116 and 4,378,117] there have been many new designs and mechanisms improving and expanding the three-dimensional puzzles for game play, exterior design and internal mechanism, [U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,513,970, 4,540,177, 5,338,033, 4,593,907, 6,422,559, 6,644,665, and 6,974,130] including making the exterior surface spherical rather than cubic. Unfortunately, the results of a lot of these improvements have not actually changed the way the puzzle is solved, nor have they changed the difficulty of solving the puzzle except to add more elements.
Spherical three-dimensional manipulable puzzles have been created that do not follow the basic element patterns of the Rubik's cube and its spherical variants. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,441,715 4,865,323, 5,358,247, 5,452,895, 6,857,632, and possibly 4,513,970. These puzzles all have spherical shapes with elements of varying shapes that can be rotated around the surface to assemble a puzzle with a image or set of identifiers on the surface that can be aligned together when solved. The draw back of all these spherical puzzles is that because these element shapes are not symmetrical on all three axes, pieces' shapes aid in the game play, making the puzzle easier to solve.
Other three-dimensional manipulable puzzles that are not necessarily spherical in shape, but have game play puzzle solving in a manor like the Rubik's cube include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,836,549 and 4,593,908. These puzzles are of odd geometrical shapes, but include unique mechanisms that allow rotations of sections and elements for innovative game play. Similar to the spherical puzzles above however, they have unique shapes and locations of elements that provide easier references for players to solve the puzzle.